"Despite the fact that I've been using Windows 8 for the past three weeks, I somehow managed to overlook a rather stark feature in the OS: ads. No, we're not talking about ads cluttering up the desktop or login screen (thankfully), but rather ads that can be found inside of some Modern UI apps that Windows ships with. That includes Finance, Weather, Travel, News and so forth. Is it a problem? Let's tackle this from a couple of different angles." Hadn't seen them either - I don't use those applications - but this is pretty despicable.

That's a laughable claim. So, what, just because (for example) Microsoft Security Essentials can be downloaded for "free," you're not already paying for the privilege to be able to download and run the software?

No, you're not. Sorry, the real world works like this. Bing is a service. It is not a free service. Neither is Google.

Bing has ALWAYS served ads. Try visiting their web page some time. It is their monetization scheme.

Visual Studio is a Windows application and it is decidedly not free. You need a license. That's their monetization scheme.

Office is not free. You need a license. There's their scheme.

Because Bing is free of upfront costs does not mean it is effectively free. You pay for it by bringing in ad revenue to the Bing team.

The same goes for their APIs. If you as a developer want to license the Bing API, you'll need to pay upfront if you plan on heavy use.

Bottom line is that these services being non-free is NOT anything new.

I mean, do you not need to pay a large amount of money for a Windows license to run a piece of Windows software? And is Microsoft not the sole creator, owner and maintainer of Windows itself?

Being a Microsoft program, does this not mean you're effectively paying for the ability to run the software they provide any additional charge anyway, given such past measures as Windows Genuine Advantage to block non-paying and even Wine-using people from installing? I don't know if WGA is what they're using for their app store (probably not, I'm guessing some server-side authentication), but whatever it is no doubt it provides similar functions.

When you purchase Windows you purchase the operating system. You are not entitled to free reign over Microsoft's vast software catalog. This is ridiculous.

But assuming I did look at the situation the way you are and that they are "free," that means that these "apps" truly are adware in the traditional sense and should be removed by such products as Lavasoft's Ad-Aware. But oh, wait--Windows 8's "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" directory requires special privileges to access...

So? The apps belong to the USER and not some automated program.

If the USER expresses the intent to uninstall apps, he may do so using the Start Screen, which marshals requests through the RuntimeBroker which DOES have permissions to install and remove applications.

I'll also note that WinRT stores component registration details in a Registry catalog (This is how app activation and contract activation in WinRT works) so any automated tool which does not accommodate that can risk leaving garbage behind.

In Windows 8, finally, app installation/removal is taken care of the system. There's no mess of 30 installers, no uninstallers left behind, no registry cleaners needed, etc.

But really, wasn't even Microsoft against OEMs stuffing Windows installations like a turkey with slow, bloated, advertising-ridden, resource-hogging crapware? Apparently it's fine when it's them serving it (though to be fair, so far it's only adware).

Thankfully, the majority of Windows users are not as ridiculous as you, and don't really CARE about the Bing apps having one ad at the end of the screen.

(Also, if you know about how advertising SDKs work, you'll know that a new ad is NOT downloaded every single time the app is accessed)

First, just a small thing about Bing. At least Bing, the website, is not made to check what software and operating system you are running and selectively block everything that is non-Microsoft, unless WGA and the Metro "app" store. So for that reason, I would at least consider it a standalone service not tied to Windows, and the ads (though I never see them) do make perfect sense in that scenario. However... when you bring up the Bing app for Windows 8/Metro, that's where they cross the line. The "app" came bundled with the OS, and yet advertises. No, thanks.

When you purchase Windows you purchase the operating system. You are not entitled to free reign over Microsoft's vast software catalog.

No... no one purchases Windows. They purchase the license, the "right" from Microsoft, to be able to use it, with all the restrictions that they put in place in their EULA. So really, you are not entitled free reign over Windows (and by extension, even your own computer hardware), either. Want to use your computer's network hardware to its full potential and share files among more than ten other machines? Well, you better pay up for a higher-SKU Windows or a different OS altogether, because in standard licenses there are technical measures put in place to make sure you obey the EULA.

Thankfully, the majority of Windows users are not as ridiculous as you, and don't really CARE about the Bing apps having one ad at the end of the screen.

Yes, I know that all too well. Most people I know just bend over and take it right up the ass. I refuse to go down to that level. Sorry for not being just like you and the rest of the crowd, but it's just not gonna happen.